Crystals: Genuine, Synthetic, Fake, Dyed, Composite, Enhansed or Imitation?

We are asked more an more often whether our crystals are genuine or not.

It is probably THE MOST important thing to ask yourself when purchasing crystal both online and from a crystal/rock shop.

Dyed Crystals

There are the obvious dyed crackle quartz and agate crystals which are brighter than any natural crystals. These will usually change colour when soaked in water and are often highlighted by sellers as dyed. The cracks in the crackle quartz allow the the dye to be absorbed. The agate is porous and takes up the dye. 

We sell Blue Howlite which is a dyed Howlite but is not labelled as to mimic a genuine type of crystal.

Synthetic Crystals

Some of these are accepted by the crystal healing world and even have accepted crystal properties. An example of this is Opalite. Opalite is a synthetic crystal, also known as opal glass. It is not trying to imitate a genuine crystal that exists. Tiger glass is another synthetic glass based crystal.

We sell both Opalite and Tiger Glass

Composite Crystals

These should also fall under the title of imitation or fake. Composite crystals are made from parts of genuine mineral/crystal that are artificially formed together. This occurs with some malachite and turquoise.

We do NOT sell any composite crystals

Enhanced/Altered Crystals

These include colour enhanced and heat treated crystals. The 2 most common heat treated crystals are Citrine Quartz and Tiger Eye Red. Citrine Quartz is made when amethyst is irradiated. This is so common in today's market that natural citrine is always named natural citrine. See our blog post https://craftmoor.com/blogs/news/is-it-real-citrine. Red Tiger Eye is sometimes created when Tiger Eye Gold is heat treated.

We sell heat treated Quartz Citrine and Natural Citrine. We sell natural Tiger Eye Red.

Imitation

These are the most disappointing fake crystals! Though rare in tumblestones; they are fairly common in Chinese bought pendants and jewellery. Clear quartz is commonly faked. It can be quite obvious, especially when it contains very little flaws, inclusions or faults. Some imitation crystals are even more obvious. They can be plastic materials that are printed to look like a patterned mineral.